


The Digimon Detective

by SharaRaizel



Category: Digimon Savers | Digimon Data Squad, Magic Kaitou, Meitantei Conan | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Crossover, F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-21
Updated: 2017-09-01
Packaged: 2017-12-12 13:34:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/812147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SharaRaizel/pseuds/SharaRaizel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One night on his way home from a KID heist Hakuba Saguru comes across a strange looking cat and is introduced to the existence of Digimon. He continues to meet more of these strange creatures and the few humans who work for a secret government agency that deals with them. While finding the balance between being a graduating high school detective and his new job as a consultant agent for DATS, Saguru gets caught up in a series of events that will forever change his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Wet Fur

**Author's Note:**

> This has been a pet side project that I've been working on in my free time when I'm not writing my other Digimon fan fics, or... shamelessly writing fics for my favorite yaoi pair, KaiHaku. Anyway, this is a fic I don't intend to write regularly unless it gets a major response or something. I WILL update it, just not consistently (not that any of my works have been consistent as of late, but I digress). I suppose you could say that this is a preview of a fic that I DO plan to one day write regularly.
> 
> All the main character names in this will have their original Japanese names, and I'll do my best with the Digimon and their attacks, but I might use the English names for some of them (one example is actually in this chapter). 
> 
> Time-line wise, this fic takes place after the events of Detective Conan & Magic Kaitou (which I'm placing roughly 1 year after the start of DC) so because I figure that the MK cast is 1 year older that DC, Hakuba, Kaito, and Aoko are 18 (seniors) and Shinichi, Ran, Heiji, and Kazuha are 17 (juniors). As for the Digimon Savers aspect of this fic, this takes place roughly a year before Masaru meets Agumon and joins DATS and will continue on and follow events of the season.

### 

Hakuba Saguru wasn’t sure which of the many Japanese Gods he’d managed to piss off this time, but someone up there hated him. It was pouring rain outside and he was without a ride, had no umbrella, and was covered in a thick coat of sticky gunk that he’d ended up drenched in during the latest Kaitou Kid heist. Even with the rain hammering down on him, Saguru found that the unknown substance wasn’t coming off. Normally this wouldn’t bother him, but tonight his fellow detectives Kudo Shinichi and Hattori Heiji had been in attendance at the heist as well. He didn’t usually mind Kudo being there, but Hattori was a pain in the ass and, more often than not, Kudo backed up his hotheaded Osakan friend nine times out of ten. Hattori and Saguru simply couldn’t stand each other.

Hattori seemed to be convinced that Saguru was a spoiled rich brat who was slow in his deductive skills, and therefore the lesser of the three genius teenage detectives. Saguru couldn’t stand Hattori because of the teen’s reckless behavior, hotheaded temper, and overly competitive nature. Now normally he wouldn’t have much of a problem working with someone like Hattori – he’d had to do so many times in the past – but it was Hattori’s dismissal of Saguru’s deductive skills that offended him. He’d made one mistake in their first case together and had been dubbed a stuck up wanna-be detective by the Osakan. Saguru’s mistake had been the result of the fact that he’d rushed his usually methodical and clinical process of analyzing the case in the heat of competition – which Hattori apparently thrived in. If Saguru had just stepped back from the whole case like he usually did, he’d have figured the case out before Edogawa Conan – whom he now knew as Kudo Shinichi after working with the other detective to help bring down the Black Organization. It had also been the only time that Saguru had been able to work with Hattori without much argument due to the seriousness of the case.

But even after helping his fellow detectives bring down the Black Organization, Hattori always seemed to look down upon Saguru because of his choice to handle theft, missing persons, and cold cases instead of working homicide. Kudo didn’t really care one way or another about the degree of Saguru’s deductive abilities or what kind of cases he applied those skills to so long as he remained competent, the case they were working on together got solved, and the right person went to jail. Thankfully since the takedown of the Organization Saguru only had the misfortune of running into the Osakan at Kid heists.

Speaking of heists, Saguru sighed in frustration as he tried to pick some of the gunk off of him. Hattori had found it hilarious that Saguru had fallen into one of Kid’s more annoying traps. Giving up on removing the goop for now, Saguru trudged towards home. The only good thing about the stuff was that it appeared to be waterproof, so he wasn’t quite soaked to the bone and still somewhat warm.

As he was passing an alleyway though, there was a bright flash of light that made him pause at the entrance. For a moment Saguru wondered if he was dreaming because there were a bunch of pulsing rings whirring in the air hovering roughly three stories above the ground. Saguru stared, entranced for a moment until something dropped out of it, landing in an open dumpster. Then with another bright flash the rings were gone, returning the alley to its dark and dreary state.

Unable to reign in his curiosity, Saguru approached the dumpster and peered inside to see what had fallen out of the strange apparition. In the poor lighting and the heavy rain, Saguru could only make out a vague shape that didn’t appear to be another garbage bag. It was a sizable shape, but nothing too big. He was about to reach in and grab it when the shape suddenly moved and hissed at him. Startled, Saguru stumbled backwards with a yell and fell onto a stack of soaked cardboard boxes.

When he looked up he saw a white cat glaring at him from where it now perched on the lip of the dumpster. It was the strangest looking cat he had ever seen. Its front paws were covered with clawed green gloves that had orange stripes on them. Its tail had purple stripes with a purple tuft of fur at the end. There were purple tufts on the tips of its ears as well. The strange cat also had the sharpest pair of blue eyes he’d ever seen. Saguru frowned for a moment before shaking his head and stood back up. A soft ripping sound informed him that some of the cardboard had come away with him sticking to his backside. He grimaced as he tried to pry it off. The cat made an angry noise low in its throat at him.

“Ok, I don’t blame you,” Saguru chuckled bitterly. “I wouldn’t want to be touched by me either. Not with this shit all over me. Damn Kid.”

He tried to pull off a bit more, but only succeeded in transferring the wet paper to his hands.

“Screw this!” he huffed before sneezing violently, causing him to growl in miserable frustration.

“Hehe.”

Saguru froze momentarily before rounding on the cat and looked into those blue eyes. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say that the cat had just laughed at him and looked amused.

“Great. Just great,” he grumbled. “I’m catching a cold and hearing things. I’m gonna kill the Kaitou Kid the next time I see him.”

CLANG!

Saguru frowned again, glancing back down the alley. He could swear that he’d just seen another flash of light. The cat was hissing again, it’s hackles raised as it stared down the alley as well.

“So you heard it too, huh?” Saguru frowned.

There was another clanging sound and Saguru began to weigh the pros and cons of checking things out. He was only a few more blocks from his house. He could go home, take a warm bath, scrub the gunk off of him, and eat something… Or he could remain out in the rain, go check out this second disturbance, and catch his death of pneumonia. With a groan and cursing his curiosity, Saguru headed further into the alley. He saw a streak of white fly by him and noted that the strange cat was coming too, staying a few steps ahead. After maneuvering around a few more dumpsters, Saguru and the cat entered an intersection of alleyways. Saguru strained his hearing for a minute or two, but he couldn’t hear anything over the pouring rain as it crashed nosily down on the metal lids of trashcans and dumpsters, and thumped heavily on wood, pavement, and the surrounding buildings.

“I don’t suppose you can detect anything?” Saguru asked the cat.

The cat looked up and stared at him, cocking its head to the side, blinking curiously at him before nodding and heading off down the alley on their left. Saguru froze for a second and stared after the cat, wondering if he was already really sick and hallucinating now. He considered going back and getting home like he should, but some instinct told him that he needed to follow that cat. Something was going on and he needed to find out what it was. He didn’t know how he knew this, but he sensed that the world as he knew it was about to change. He wasn’t wrong.

 

Saguru followed the strange cat down a series of alleyways until they came upon an uncovered manhole that led into the sewers. The cat wrinkled its nose as it stared down into the hole. Saguru frowned as he knelt down and inspected the removed cover. He lifted it up a little to get a better look at something on it in the streetlight, but dropped it in alarm as his hand heated up. Bewildered, he stared at his hand as the goop that coated it melted away and left light minor burns on his hand. A burning smell soon reached his nose and he realized that it was coming from the manhole cover. Looking at the cover, and comparing it to the size of the manhole, he realized that it was a little smaller than it should be.

“Acid?” he murmured out loud, slipping his hand into his coat sleeve before handling the lid again.

The acidic substance wasn’t as affective on his coat due to the combined efforts of the rain and sludge coating his attire, but it still ate away some of the gunk on him. Instead of scaring him, Saguru found himself intrigued as to what could have possibly made up the substance coating the sewer lid. He took out a small specimen cup from the inside of his coat and managed to scrape a sample off from the manhole cover. Surprisingly it didn’t melt through the plastic. Strange. Just to be safe though, Saguru put the small jar inside one of the bigger containers he carried and sealed it in an evidence bag.

After pocketing his find he left the lid alone and moved to crouch beside the cat. The smell was horrible and he knew he was going to regret this, but he lowered himself into the hole anyway. Just before he could disappear down the manhole completely, Saguru felt a weight latch itself onto his shoulder. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted the strange white cat.

“Oh, _now_ you’re willing to get near me,” Saguru snorted before continuing down into the sewer. “All right, hold tight.”

He could feel the cat’s claws digging into his coat as he slowly lowered himself deeper into the filth filled underground part of Tokyo. Once he reached the bottom he dug through his pockets to pull out his flashlight, thankful that it had survived Kid’s tricks and had mercifully remained relatively gunk free.

“Thank God for small miracles,” he murmured as he turned the high beam light on. He stared in shock when he saw great smears of a grey substance on the sewer walls that seemed to be creating gash-like marks in the brickwork. “What the hell?” he frowned as he cautiously pressed a part of his sleeve into the substance and watched as more of Kid’s gunk melted away. “Same acidic substance that was on the man hole cover,” he mused, as he looked at the cat still perched on his shoulder. “Now what do you suppose did this?”

The cat blinked at him and looked like it was shrugging.

“…I’m talking to a cat,” Saguru sighed, looking away. “Oh, Hattori would love to see me in this sorry delusional state. It’s not like you can talk back to me. Whatever. Lets find out what the hell is going on here and then I can lose my sanity from the comforts of home.”

The cat seemed to purr in amusement at his comments while Saguru examined the direction the smears appeared to be going in. He carefully walked along on the walkway ledges lining the sewer as the gushing river of filth and rainwater rushed past them. After an hour of navigating through the city sewer system Saguru and his feline companion came upon a tunnel that led to an intersection of sorts where they spotted this mass of filth, slim and debris trudging along into the intersection. It surprised Saguru to see the mass _move_ as if it were looking around and trying to decide which direction to go in. He couldn’t quite hold back a soft gasp as the… whatever it was, turned it’s great bulk and he saw that the thing actually had _eyes_ and a gaping mouth in what he supposed was a head.

“By God in heaven… What is that thing?” he breathed softly, which turned out to be a bad idea. The thing _stinked_ and made him gag a little. “I think we ought to get out of here.” The cat gave an uneasy sounding growl, head bobbing in a nodding motion that he took to be a sign of agreement. Gulping and trying not to throw up, Saguru backed away slowly. Unfortunately his footing slipped on something and he found himself falling off the ledge and into the sewer water with a loud slash, somehow not loosing hold of his flashlight. When he surfaced with a gasp, he saw that the sludge creature had noticed him and let out a roar as it approached him with surprising speed.

“Don’t just stand there gaping! Move your tail!”

Whirling around, Saguru spotted the strange cat that had been smart enough to jump off his shoulder when he’d fallen. It was standing on the walkway still relatively dry… on its two hind legs like a person… and it had spoken to him.

“I said move it!” the cat hissed in a young woman’s voice before turning away to stare down the sewer creature that was still raging towards them. Saguru decided that now was not the right time to question his sanity as he climbed back onto the walkway. The cat meanwhile launched itself at the sludge monster and _punched_ it in the face right between the eyes with its clawed gloves.

“Neko Punch!”

The creature fell back, roaring angrily as the cat jumped back and landed in front of Saguru with her back to him, still facing the thing – at least he assumed the cat was female since it had a feminine sounding voice.

“Acid Sludge!” the creature belched as it vomited a grotesque projectile at them.

Saguru was reacting more than anything as he grabbed the cat by the scruff of her neck and bolted as fast as he dared to go down the sewer tunnels and around the nearest corner. He managed to miss most of the attack but from the burning smell, he could tell that some traces of that acidic sludge had managed to hit the back of his coat. He and the cat weren’t out of trouble yet though. The ground beneath his feet shook and nearly sent him falling back into the sewer river again. He let the cat go when he felt they were a reasonable distance away from the sewer monster, only for her to jump up onto his shoulder again.

“Don’t stop, keep moving!” she yowled as the rank smell of the sewer intensified in its foul odor meaning that the creature wasn’t that far behind them. So Saguru kept running, taking directions from the strange talking white cat wearing green gloves on his shoulder. Saguru nearly cried with relief when he spotted a ladder that led to the surface. He tucked away his flashlight and climbed as quickly as he could without slipping while the sewer monster gained on them. Just as he was beginning to wonder how he was going to lift the manhole cover in time to escape the creature, the cat jumped up off his shoulder and punched the sewer lid off.

Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, Saguru scrambled up the last few steps out of the sewers and back into the fresh air and stormy weather. The cat jumped back onto his shoulder as he took off out of the alleyway they had found themselves in and ran as far away as he could from the manhole and the sewer creature it contained. He didn’t stop until he came to a park and leaned against the nearest lamppost, panting. His lungs were heaving for air as he nearly bent himself in half, bracing his hands on his knees.

The cat jumped off his shoulder, landing on her two hind legs like a person and looked around at their new surroundings warily.

“What… the hell… was that?” Saguru wheezed.

“I’m not sure,” the cat sighed. “But it’s a Champion level Digimon. One I’m not strong enough to defeat on my own.”

“What are you talking about?” Saguru gasped, looking at the cat incredulously. “Just what are you?”

“I’m Tailmon, a Digimon,” she stated plainly. “I’m from the Digital World.”

“And what is a Digimon?” he asked.

“Digimon is short for Digital Monster,” the cat explained.

“And you’re from another world.” Saguru shook his head wondering if he wasn’t just hallucinating and imagining this whole thing. Maybe Kid had gotten him with knockout gas after all and this was all just a bad dream. “And that thing back there… it was a Digimon too?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Tailmon nodded. “I don’t know what it was though because I’ve never seen that kind of Digimon before. I’m from a very secluded part of the Digital World. I was just taking a stroll through the forest when that thing attacked me. I ran to try and find a better vantage point to fight it off when I fell through a hidden portal. It must have followed me through the rift between worlds that brought me here to your world. To the human world. …It’s not quite what I expected it to be.”

“You should see it during the day when it’s not raining,” Saguru sighed as he straightened up to his full height.

“You’re a funny human,” Tailmon smiled, looking amused. How had Saguru thought that this creature was merely a goofy looking cat? It had too many human-like expressions and mannerisms to be normal.

“Well you’re a funny looking cat,” Saguru sighed, hitting his head back lightly against the lamppost he was standing under.

“Well at least I’m not the one stuck to a light,” the cat grinned.

Saguru blinked then groaned when he realized that he was in fact sticking to the lamppost. To his surprise though he came off easily. He took a look at himself and found that most of Kid’s goop had been removed from his person. Then a blast of wind hit him and he shivered, teeth chattering together.

“Uh… lets get out of the rain,” he stuttered, looking around for landmarks that would tell him where they were. The cat Digimon creature nodded, jumping up to perch on his shoulder again. He would have protested, saying something to the effect that he wasn’t a pack mule, but her body was keeping some part of him warm at least.

Thankfully the park they were in wasn’t too far from his house and after a half hour jogging through the rainstorm he made it home, entering through the back door that was next to the laundry room. With a relieved sigh he removed his heavy rain soaked jacket only to cringe when he saw the singed back. The sewer creature’s acid may have removed the gunk Kid had covered him with (at the heist that seemed ages ago now) but it had ruined his jacket beyond repair. After emptying it of its contents Saguru mournfully threw it away. He’d really liked that jacket too.

Making sure that he wasn’t making too big of a mess, Saguru headed upstairs to his room with Tailmon still perched on his shoulder. His first stop was the adjoining bathroom where he striped out of his clothing in the shower while Tailmon sat on the counter next to the bathroom sink. He made sure to thoroughly scrub the remaining goop off his person and out of his hair. His hair was the most troublesome bit. Luckily, being experienced in predicaments like this, Saguru had a bottle of vinegar in the shower that helped work the rest of the strange substance out of his hair and off his skin. Something about vinegar broke down the chemical make up of whatever the Kaitou Kid made his slime out of. Of course now he smelled of vinegar, but at the moment he really didn’t care. It was better than reeking of garbage and filth. Then he proceeded to scrub himself down until his skin felt raw. He’d been down in the sewers after all and had even fallen into its rank waters. He made a mental note to just go ahead and toss out the entire outfit he’d worn that night. It would take too much effort to salvage it anyway. When he was finished he grabbed a towel, wrapped it around his waist, and got out of the shower.

Tailmon had apparently fallen asleep while he’d been showering so he let her be and prepared the bath for a nice soak, even adding his favorite smelling salt to the bath water. While the tub was filling up he decided to dispose of his ruined attire and put on his rarely used swim trunks. When the tub was full he woke up the slumbering feline and eased into the nice warm water with her. She resisted at first but when he began to wash the muck out of her fur and massaged circles into her tense muscles, she purred up a storm. When he was done cleaning her, he leaned back and just allowed himself to soak and enjoy the nice bath that was washing away the smell of vinegar. Tailmon was curled up on his chest where he continued to pet her as she drifted off to sleep. When Saguru felt himself begin to nod off he got out of the tub, drained it, and proceeded to dry himself and the cat off. She roused a bit during that but fell right back to sleep as he carried her into his bedroom.

Now there was nothing Saguru wanted to do more than to follow the feline’s lead and go to sleep, but the stubborn part of his brain insisted that he clean up the small mess he’d made when he came home so that poor Baaya didn’t have to do it and his father wouldn’t get mad and yell at him. So it was with great reluctance that he headed downstairs after setting the Digimon cat down on a pillow on his bed. He got out the cleaning supplies and spent the next hour cleaning up the trail he’d made from the back door to the laundry room and upstairs to his room and bath. He even cleaned up his bathroom just to be thorough. He also took care of the items that had been on his person during his trek through the sewers, disposing of any and all ruined articles, and setting aside the specimen jar he’d collected with the sample from the manhole cover. For the first time ever, Saguru was glad that his classmate, Kuroba Kaito, had nicked his favorite pocket watch and had yet to return it. He would have been devastated to have had his prized possession ruined in the sewers.

It was around 4 o’clock in the morning when Saguru finally crawled into bed exhausted and wishing that the night’s events had been nothing more than a bad dream.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's what I have so far for The Digimon Detective! If you think I should write more please let me know in a comment or something! I plan for Kaito and Aoko to be in the next chapter and maybe introduce someone from DATS as well. 
> 
> Oh, and some of you may have noticed the pre-Hakuba/Kaito/Aoko relationship tag listed at the top. I had originally planed for this to be only KaitoXAoko since I plan on using canon relationships, but I'm a huge fan of HakubaXKaito and recently have fallen in love with the HakuKaiAo threesome and because there is hardly anything out there, I decided that that was the pairing I was going to go with. The romance won't be a major component in this fic (at least not for a while yet) or even completely evident. There might be come comforting, snuggling and maybe a rare kiss, but other than that I don't plan to go into anything explicit in this fic, so if you don't care for it... it's not going to be a real issue until way later in the story if at all. :P


	2. Getting to Know You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tailmon wakes up inside Hakuba Saguru's home and begins to learn more about the boy and the human world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow did this take a while to write up. This chapter is in Tailmon's POV and I found it to be pretty limiting since Tailmon spends 2/3 of the chapter underneath Saguru's bed... And I had to go back so many times because I kept typing Gatomon instead of Tailmon. :P Seriously, I did it like 5 times within just the first 3 pages when typing it out on Word! And then I found myself going back over and over again to make sure she didn't have any vocab that would seem out of place for a character experiencing the human world for the first time. Some of those parts got to be pretty fun though. I hope you all enjoy reading this chapter from her perspective. This is only the second chapter I've written in a Digimon's POV, so I hope I did alright! :D

Tailmon woke up feeling content and warm. She was lying on something soft and she didn’t want to move. She did open her eyes, however, and took in her surroundings. She’d never seen anything like the smooth, flat, and angular walls that made up the human’s dwelling, or the strange grass that covered the floor. One of the walls had a square hole in it that allowed sunlight in and brightened up the space though, so she supposed that whatever this place was it wasn’t so bad. She wasn’t sure what she was lying on, but she did recognize the human boy from the night before lying next to her curled in on himself, but something wasn’t right. His breathing was heavy and his pale skin was tinged pink.

Rising from the strange poufy thing she’d been lying on, Tailmon got up and made her way over to the human boy. She gently pressed her forehead against his and frowned when she felt how hot it was. The boy hadn’t been this hot last night. Something was wrong with him. Before she could ponder what to do next, she heard the sound of heavy footsteps padding softly towards the rectangle of wood that blocked this chamber off from the other boxed spaces that made up the human’s dwelling. Instinct took over and she jumped down onto the strange spongy grass, darting under the raised platform that she and the boy were on. She assumed that it had to be where one slept – the human equivalent of a nest.

A minute later another human entered the space. This one appeared to be female and was much older than the boy. She didn’t look anything like him. She was short, and had narrow beady grey eyes set in her wrinkly face. She reminded Tailmon a little of the Babamon elders back home in the Digital World.

“Master Saguru, you should be up getting ready for school,” the female human huffed. She crossed the room and pulled aside a hanging length of cloth that revealed another pair of wooden rectangles set in the wall adjacent to the one with the square hole. Unlike the rectangle of wood that she’d come, through, these two rectangles had panes of a clear material in them like the square hole and let in even more sunlight.

The boy grunted before letting out a series of loud hacking coughs that sounded like he was trying to throw up a hairball. From her position beneath the raised nest, Tailmon didn’t know how the human looked, but she could tell that the coughing had left him winded as he wheezed in and out softly.

“Master Saguru!” the old female gasped rushing towards the nest. It was quiet for another minute before she spoke again. “You’re burning up with a fever! How late were you out last night? Don’t tell me you were out in that downpour.”

“I’m afraid… that I… was,” the boy panted.

“Well you lie back down right this instant!” the female screeched. “I’ll call the school to inform them that you’re ill and I’ll be up later with something warm and light to eat.”

“Thank you… Baaya,” the boy whispered as the female bustled out of the chamber, shutting the rectangle of wood behind her.

Tailmon waited until she could no longer hear the elder human’s footsteps before climbing out from her hiding spot and jumped back onto the raised platform nest-thing.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

The boy startled a bit, his head jerking in her direction. He stared at her for a moment before sighing and dragged a hand over his face.

“So last night wasn’t a dream,” he mumbled.

“I’m afraid not, human,” Tailmon purred in amusement.

“I’m fine. …Tailmon, isn’t it?” the boy asked softly. Talking in a low voice and soft tone seemed to help him speak without irritating his throat too much. It was no problem for Tailmon. She had exceptional hearing.

“That’s right. And you’re Saguru,” she nodded. “That’s what the female called you, isn’t it?”

“Ah… yes,” the boy nodded. “I didn’t introduce myself last night did I? I – _cough_ –apologize. That was rude of me.”

“I didn’t exactly ask for it,” Tailmon mused. “And I think any rudeness on your part can be forgiven since you gave me shelter from the rain, washed my fur of filth, and let me rest in your nest.”

“Nest?” the boy blinked in confusion.

“Your sleeping space,” Tailmon elaborated, tugging gently on the cloth beneath her.

“Oh… it’s called a bed, actually,” the human informed her. “Anyway, forgiven or not, I really should – _cough_ – introduce myself properly. My name is Hakuba Saguru. It’s nice to meet you, Tailmon.”

“The pleasure’s mine,” Tailmon smirked. “You really are a strange human. You’re nothing like what I’d expected humans to be like. You’re certainly a polite one at any rate. Are all humans like that or is it just you?”

“Well, no,” Saguru sighed with a light cough. “Sadly not all humans are polite. In fact, some are just downright rude, but we’re not all bad I suppose… There are lots of nice people out there too, some far nicer than I am, I’m sure.”

“Well that’s good to hear,” Tailmon mused. “You humans have a rather beastly reputation amongst us Digimon. I was not expecting any kindness from your kind, so I was surprised with how well you’ve treated me.”

“Well, human or not, you are a sentient being with intelligence whom I’ve brought into my home,” Saguru stated, clearing his throat before continuing. “You are a guest here and, as my guest, of course I would treat you as one should treat a guest.”

Tailmon smiled at the human boy and allowed herself to curl up beside him where he could still see her without much trouble.

“Is something wrong with you? The female appeared to be distressed about your condition,” she said.

“Ah… I – _cough_ – appear to have a bad head cold,” Saguru coughed out before sniffing miserably. “Ugh… Spending all that time out in the cold rain will – _achoo_! – do that to us humans. Don’t Digimon ever get sick?”

“Sick?” Tailmon mused, tilting her head. “Sometimes, I suppose. It’s not uncommon for an Agumon to eat too much food and get a stomachache, and some of the younger Digimon get sniffles and sneezes when around too many of the plant Digimon, but few of us ever get sick with fever like you. We Digimon have more sense to stay out of elements we are unsuited for.”

“Well excuse me for not thinking about getting out of the rain during our mad dash away from the sewage monster,” Saguru huffed, but the boy was smiling so Tailmon had to assume that the boy was simply being a Wisemon and trying to make light of his present condition.

Tailmon leveled an amused look at the snarky human as they continued to trade bantery dialogue. She found that she liked Saguru and hadn’t thought about leaving once since she’d first woken up. She did, however, duck back down under the nest-thing that Saguru had called a bed when she heard the woman coming back.

“I made some chicken noodle soup for you, Botchama,” the old human announced as she reentered the chamber with a tray. “I’ve also brought some cold medicine for you to take. I don’t want you leaving your room at all today. You are to remain in bed and rest, only getting up to use the toilet.”

“Yes, Baaya,” Saguru sighed.

“Good,” she said crisply. “Unfortunately, I received a call from your father and have to go run some errands. I expect I’ll be gone all day, but I’ll try to stop back around noon to give you something for lunch.”

“I’m not a child anymore, Baaya,” Saguru protested. “I can get up and make my own lunch. You just go and take care of those errands. No sense in making Father mad at the both of us.”

“Your father is not mad at you, Botchama,” Baaya said sternly.

“No, just disappointed that his no-good son has no sense to stay out of the rain after chasing the Kid all night again,” Saguru huffed bitterly.

The old female only sighed in reply to Saguru’s statement and left the chamber without another word. Tailmon waited until she couldn’t hear the elder human again before climbing back onto the bed-nest. The boy was sitting up now propped up by many poufy things like the one she’d slept on, but he looked a little depressed as he stirred the contents of a broth in a strange looking bowl; it didn’t look like it was made out of wood or stone.

Saguru looked like he was in need of a distraction, so she decided to ask him what the various items situated on his lap were and about the other things she could see in his chamber. This seemed to cheer him up a bit as he went into a kind of lecture mode as he answered her questions and explained about the various things in his personal chamber that he called a “bedroom.” He even offered her some of the broth that he’d been given by the human female – Baaya – who was his caretaker of sorts. It tasted pretty good, even though it was lacking in anything of solid substance. The noodles and small chucks of meat that did occasionally appear in the broth were hardly enough to fill even her stomach. How he was supposed to get well drinking only broth was beyond her. If anything, it only made the boy’s nose run more.

Once everything in the room had been explained, he reached over the side of the bed and pulled out a flat rectangular device that he opened and turned on. He called it a laptop computer. Tailmon found this to be the most intriguing device she’d seen thus far because it showed her many things. With it, Saguru was able to show her various kinds of human dwellings with many types of rooms, people, and some were of lands outside of the one they were currently in. They were in the land known as Japan, or something like that. A lot of the images that he showed her were from the boy’s homeland, London, where his mother lived – she was very pretty and Saguru looked a lot like her. Tailmon was fascinated by all of the different “kinds” of humans out there (though they were only differing in size and skin tone and not as various in appearance as Digimon were) and how big and vast the human world was compared to the small pocket of the Digital World that she knew.

Saguru looked like he was growing tired though, so she asked him if he could show her how to use the laptop so that she could explore it’s contents on her own. Unfortunately, she didn’t know the human’s writing system, so the laptop was useless to her without Saguru’s help. He did pull up a few series of moving images – videos he called them – for her to watch while he slept. She found them to be entertaining enough. The first one was an informative video of some sort on Japan, explaining the culture and its people. The second video was a language video. It made her realize that the language that she had been speaking with Saguru was called Japanese, and that this video was teaching her English, the language of Saguru’s homeland. The third and final video was a rather strange one. The people in it didn’t look real and it had these strange creature things called spirits. It was amusing though, and she found herself caught up in the story of this little not-real-but-still-human-child Chihiro as she found work at a spirit-run building called a bathhouse…

But before she could find out how the girl’s first night working at that place was, she heard the sound of footsteps approaching from outside the rectangle of wood that she’d learned was called a door. There were two pairs of footsteps this time, and neither of them were old Baaya’s shuffling gait. She paused the video she’d been watching, folded the top half that displayed the images back down onto it’s bottom half, and set it back inside the bag that she’d seen Saguru pull it from. She then nudged the sleeping human awake.

“Someone’s coming,” she hissed, “and it’s not Baaya.”

Saguru blinked sleepily up at her, coughing into one of his hands momentarily before turning his head towards the bedroom door. The metal insert that opened the door rattled and Tailmon dashed back under the bed as the door began to open.

“Kuroba-kun? Aoko-kun?” Saguru’s surprised voice called out as Tailmon saw another human boy and a human girl enter the room. Both looked to be around Saguru’s age, but both had dark blue eyes, messy brown hair – the girl’s was longer – and wore matching outfits. Twins perhaps? They certainly looked alike enough to be family.

“Hakuba-kun!” the girl gasped, rushing over to Saguru’s bedside. “You look awful! What happened?”

“A Kid heist followed by a rainstorm,” Saguru coughed.

“What were you doing out in that downpour?!” the girl cried rather loudly. Tailmon flinched at how loud she was compared to how quiet Saguru had been when they were talking earlier.

“I couldn’t get a cab or take a bus,” Saguru sighed. “I was covered from head to toe in Kid’s slimy mess. Anything I touched stuck to me like glue, and I didn’t want to make an even bigger mess by getting into someone’s vehicle so I walked home last night. All my clothes were ruined and I had to throw out my favorite coat.”

Tailmon’s eyes narrowed when she noticed the subtle fidgeting of the boy who’d remained by the door. He looked nervous… no… not quite nervous. Guilty perhaps? She couldn’t tell. The boy’s expression cleared too quickly for her to be sure.

“You must have taken the long way home then, Haku-baka,” the boy snorted. “It didn’t start pouring until an hour after the heist. You should have had plenty of time to get home before then.”

“Ba-Kaito!” the girl screeched. “Isn’t it obvious? Hakuba-kun stuck around late to help my dad clean up Kid’s mess again, and even so, it was raining pretty hard even after the heist ended. Being out in the rain for any extended length of time would get anyone sick. Even you had the sniffles this morning you idiot.”

“I’m fine, Aoko-kun,” Saguru sighed. “Really. It’s just a head cold.”

The girl huffed and must have sent an angry look at the other boy because he was fidgeting again.

“I’m just a little surprised that you two are here,” Saguru coughed, the bed creaking and informing Tailmon that he was moving. “I must have slept for quite a while since it appears to be a lot later than I thought it was upon waking.”

“Well that’s good!” the Aoko girl said encouragingly. “My Otousan says that one should get lots of rest when they are ill.”

“Well I think I’ve had plenty for a while, if it’s already after four,” Saguru sighed, bed creaking again as he moved.

“Oh, you needn’t get up!” Aoko protested. “If you need something, I could get it for you.”

“Ah…” Saguru stuttered. “That isn’t necessary. What I need at the moment isn’t really something you can help me with.”

“Why not?” the human girl asked.

“Aoko, he’s been in bed all day,” the other boy snickered, rocking back onto his heels.

“So?” Aoko asked.

Some sort of silent conversation seemed to be going on between the three humans because neither of them spoke for a few awkward seconds. Tailmon couldn’t see Saguru, Aoko was too close to the bed for her to see anything above the girl’s shins, and she couldn’t really decipher the other boy’s expressions other than his smirk. Finally, Aoko gasped.

“Oh! Um… Right! Sorry. Ah…”

“I-It’s quite alright, Aoko-kun,” Saguru stuttered behind a couple of coughs. “If you two could excuse me for a minute…”

“No rush,” the other boy – Kaito, Kuroba, Ba-Kaito, whatever he was called – snickered.

Saguru’s bare feet hit the floor and made their way towards the other door in the chamber that led to the room that Tailmon recalled being washed in last night. A “bathroom,” she believed it was called. That had been a fun room to learn about, because Saguru got really flustered when trying to explain the thing called a toilet. It was what the humans apparently used to relieve themselves and dispose of their excrement.

“Really, Aoko?” the messy haired boy chuckled softly once Saguru was out of the bedroom. “You couldn’t tell he needed to use the restroom?”

“Shut up, Ba-Kaito,” the girl grumbled, moving around to the other side of the bed. There was a clatter as she moved a few things around before she was heading back towards the door they’d come in through carrying the tray of dishes that had contained Saguru’s previous meal.

“This soup has gone cold. I’m going to go make something else for him,” she announced.

“Good idea,” the boy called after her. “I doubt he’s had anything since breakfast.”

Tailmon then heard a whooshing sound come from behind the bathroom door and a minute later Saguru reentered his bedroom.

“Why are you here, Kuroba?” Saguru sighed, sounding irritated as he sat down on the edge of the bed.

“I’m hurt, Hakuba,” the boy – Kuroba apparently – sighed, hand reaching up to clutch at his chest. “Can’t a friend check in on you?”

Saguru didn’t respond, and the way Kuroba was shifting uneasily again made Tailmon want to see what kind of look Saguru was giving the other human male.

“Ok, fine. We’re here to drop off your missed schoolwork and to check up on you for Baaya-san. She called my cellphone and told me where we could find the spare house key to get in… so I _didn’t_ break into your house!” Kuroba added quickly at the end. “We entered the premises through legal means with permission!”

“Like Aoko-kun would have let you pick the lock anyway,” Saguru huffed.

“You’d be surprised with what she lets me get away with these days,” Kuroba chuckled.

Saguru didn’t respond and the silence and tension was thick between the two human males.

“Look, I’m sorry,” Kuroba sighed. “I didn’t mean for you to get caught out in the rain. When we heard that you called in sick, Aoko ripped me a new one all morning.”

“I’m sorry I missed that,” Saguru said, sounding amused. “How have things been now that she knows that you’re Kid?”

“She ignores it for the most part unless something happens with her dad, or if someone gets hurt – honestly, she has had no faith in Kid’s No-One-Gets-Hurt Policy ever since she found out that I’m Kid,” Kuroba grumbled. “Or, in your case, when someone gets sick. You must be a special case though, because I heard from Ran-chan and Kazuha-chan on our way over here that Kudo and Hattori got sick too, and Aoko’s not chewing me out over them!”

Saguru snorted. “What’s their excuse for getting sick? Granted, Kudo lives on the other side of Tokyo, but they weren’t covered in your sticky slime. They could have taken public transportation.”

“Dunno,” The other boy shrugged. “Whatever happened, it’s apparently Hattori’s fault. Kazuha-chan sounded quite livid on the phone when talking to Aoko.”

Saguru chuckled.

“…Did the slime really ruin all your clothes?” Kuroba asked.

Tailmon perked up during this part of the conversation. She wondered how much Saguru was going to tell this boy about what had happened last night.

“Basically,” Saguru answered. “The rain helped run it into the under layers. I suppose I could try to salvage the dress shirt, but I feel that it would be more trouble than it’s worth for just a shirt. The pants and my jacket are completely ruined, however.”

“Was that jacket really your favorite?” the other boy flinched.

“It was my current favorite, yes,” Saguru sighed. “Mother had gotten it for me the last time she was in Paris.”

“Why the hell were you wearing a designer jacket to a Kid heist?” Kuroba scoffed.

“It wasn’t designer, believe it or not,” Saguru sighed. “It was from your run-of-the-mill department store and was on sale because it was part of last season’s line of clothes. She thought that I might like it because its design looked like it was based off of Sherlock Holmes’ iconic trench coat. And as for wearing it at your heist, I honestly never thought that I’d be drenched in your miserable concoction. Drizzled with it – yes; splashed – highly likely; covered – possibly; but _drenched_ to the point that it was _dripping_ off of me like molasses? No! If I am happy about anything that occurred last night, it is the fact that you stole my pocket watch again and still have it in your possession… You’d _better_ still have it in your possession, Kuroba.”

The Kuroba boy was fidgeting again, a hand going inside his clothes to pull out a circular thing with a long chain attached. Kuroba tossed it to Saguru.

“I was up late trying to scrub every last bit of that gunk off, you twat,” Saguru huffed, coughing a bit at the end. There was a click, the sound of ticking, and then the snap of something closing. “Thank you for keeping this safe for me. I suppose I should say that much.”

“…Would it make you feel any better if I told you that the trap was meant for Hattori?” Kuroba asked sheepishly.

“…Maybe. It would have if I hadn’t fallen for it myself,” Saguru grumbled. “Hearing that I’ve fallen for something that was meant for _Hattori_ of all people actually makes me feel a little worse about the whole debacle.”

“Oh come on, Hakuba!” Kuroba whined. “I didn’t mean for all that to happen last night!”

“It didn’t stop you from laughing your fool head off about it,” Saguru huffed testily.

“It would have been weird if Kid hadn’t laughed,” Kuroba pouted, sounding sincerely sorry. “You have a history of being Kid’s biggest and longstanding rival. You’re considered the Kid expert in the Task Force and out of the three detectives that chase him, you know the most about his activities. We may be friends, but you and Kid are rivals. You chase, he runs.”

“There you go speaking in third person again about your alter ego even though we’re the only two here,” Saguru sighed.

“Habit,” Kuroba bit out, exasperatedly. “Look, Hakuba, I really am sorry about what happened last night.”

“I know,” Saguru hummed, sounding amused again. “It’s just funny to see you actually trying to apologize to me when not even a month ago you’d have taken great enjoyment out of my misfortune. I suppose I’m still getting used to us being actual friends.”

“Sadistic prick,” Kuroba grumbled before sighing and walking over to the bed.

He must have plopped down and dragged Saguru back with him, because the bed lurched, Saguru let out an indignant squawk, and Tailmon couldn’t see either of the boys anymore as Saguru’s feet disappeared from her sight over the edge of the bed. The two human boys began to trail off into amusing but uninformative banter, so Tailmon settled herself deep under the bed and decided to take a little nap. She’d have to ask Saguru about the two human children after they left, but she was content to know that he knew them both well enough that the two of them being in his home wasn’t a problem, and that he wasn’t in any danger. She could now hear the two boys chuckling about something concerning that Hattori person they’d mentioned earlier – it sounded like a revenge prank of some kind like the ones she was used to the Gazimon planning back home. With a fond smile, Tailmon curled up on the soft grass – carpet! Saguru had called it carpet – and fell asleep, dreaming about the little prankster Digimon back home picking on a strange distorted looking human girl in pink wandering around a bathhouse and of Saguru who was washing her fur again in one of the big round tubs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing Kaito and Aoko was a lot of fun. :) Sorry if any of the MK characters are OC (especially Saguru), but I tried my best to keep everyone in character. As a reminder, this takes place AFTER DC & MK events, so Aoko knows about Kaito being the KID (how she knows will be explained in a later chapter). And just so that everyone is on the same page; Shinichi, Ran, Shiho/Ai, Heiji, Kazuha, Saguru, Kaito, and Aoko all know about KID and Shinichi/Conan (this will also be explained later). For now that is all you need to know. Hopefully I'll be able to introduce Savers characters next chapter! For now, I hope you've enjoyed curious!Tailmon and fluffy Hakuba and Kaito snark - they are quite chummy now because they've been through quite a bit together by now. 
> 
> Please leave a comment to let me know how this is going and if I should write another chapter in Tailmon's POV! Comments mean more inspiration to write! :D


	3. DATS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saguru recovers and shows Tailmon around town, but while they're out they run into the Digimon from the sewers and DATS arrives on the scene!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had hoped to post this for Odaiba Day with my other 3 digimon fan fics, but that didn't work out so... yeah. Here it is though a day later! :D
> 
> We finally get introduced to DATS and get a good fight out of it too! Enjoy! :)

When Tailmon woke up later that evening, the Aoko girl and Kuroba boy were gone and Saguru was out of his bed sitting at the wooden thing he’d called a desk.

“I’d wondered where you’d gotten off to.” He smiled at her when she jumped up onto the wooden surface to join him.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Paperwork,” the sick human huffed, nose still sounding stuffed. “I have to do it after every Kid heist.”

“You and that Kuroba boy talked about Kid. What’s a Kid?”

While he worked, Saguru told her about the eccentric thief called the Kaitou Kid and the human group call the Kid Task Force. Saguru apparently worked with this group and they were a division of police – which was what the human guardians in this world were called in general. Then he started to explain what a detective was and what he did as a detective, and that snowballed and started a lecture on the various occupations and professions the humans did and what they were called. Tailmon absorbed as much of the information as she could get, finding it all fascinating. She also realized that her new human friend was smart. Very smart even by human standards, surely.

The human lectures continued well after Saguru was done with his paper work and even during the boy’s evening meal (more of that broth and some crackers) that was brought up by Baaya. Tailmon ate whatever Saguru didn’t eat (which was half of the meal) and some treats (something called a granola bar) that Saguru had stashed away in his school bag for when he was out on cases and couldn’t be bothered to get anything else to eat. When the boy finally seemed to tire of explaining things about his world, he pulled up that video with the girl and the spirit bathhouse on his laptop computer again, started it over, and watched it with her, explaining things she hadn’t known the first time she’d started watching it.

Afterwards they fell asleep on the warm nest-bed.

 ~*~*~*~*~*~

Saguru woke up the next morning with a sore throat and a stuffy nose, but determined that he wasn’t as ill as he had been yesterday. Though staying up to talk to Tailmon about his world probably hadn’t been a wise choice in regards to his recovery. He still had a bit of a fever, though, so Baaya wasn’t allowing him up out of bed again. She _was_ allowing him to have more than her special broth, however. This morning’s breakfast was porridge and some fresh fruit; lunch was more broth, but with a ham sandwich; and supper was a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup.

The next day was more of the same.

When Tailmon wasn’t hiding under his bed from Baaya, his father, or Kuroba and Aoko when they came by to give him his missed schoolwork, she was with him on the bed or at his desk learning more about his world. He started teaching her the alphabets (both English and Japanese) so that she could read and use his laptop while he rested. She was a quick study and was learning both languages quickly. English was a little trickier for her, but by the end of their third day together she could read English text fairly well.

It figured that by the time Saguru was deemed well enough by Baaya to leave his rooms it would be Sunday and there was no school. Saguru decided to take advantage of the day though and went out to tour around town with Tailmon so that she could experience the world for herself. It took a little disguising, considering how odd she looked compared to normal cats, but with a little white face makeup paint and powder he was able to blend and hide the purple in her fur and slick down the tufts on her ears and tail. He was relieved to see that her gloves actually came off. There was nothing he could really do about the claws, but she solved that by retracting them. Now she looked like a (mostly) normal – if not large – house cat.

He enjoyed watching Tailmon absorb everything, eyeing the kids that played in the streets, narrowing her eyes and wrinkling her nose at the men sitting out in front of parlors and bars smoking, and subtly trying to sniff so that she could smell the various foods at the vending stalls in the market. Saguru was enjoying being out of his house but was glad that they didn’t run into anybody he knew when they were making their way through and out of Ekoda so that he didn’t have to explain Tailmon.

They were walking along the docks in Urayasu when Tailmon tensed where she was perched on Saguru’s shoulder – a favorite spot of hers apparently.

“What is it?” He asked.

“It’s that Digimon again,” Tailmon hissed. “It’s here!”

“Where?” Saguru asked.

“This way!” she cried, jumping off his shoulder and darted down to the warehouse sector.

Saguru followed, relieved that there didn’t appear to be anybody in the area, though he could have sworn that he’d seen a squad car with flashing lights drive through the area behind him somewhere.

When Tailmon stopped at one of the warehouses and peered around the corner, Saguru did the same and stared wide-eyed at the creature he’d seen down in the sewers. It still reeked, but the wind was carrying the smell out to the ocean, which explained why he hadn’t smelled it sooner. It looked even bigger than it had last time, though and Saguru wasn’t sure what they were supposed to do now that they’d found it.

“What now?” he asked, more to himself than anything.

“We fight it,” Tailmon hissed, tensing up as if to spring. “Give me my gloves back.”

Saguru was reluctant to do so. She was so tiny compared to that monstrosity.

“There it is!” a girl’s voice suddenly cried out.

Both Tailmon and Saguru stared in amazement as a girl in a dark pink uniform of some kind came onto the scene with a floating soccer ball sized bellflower.

“Lalamon, we can’t let it get away this time!” the girl was saying. “He’s surfaced now so lets take him out!”

“Right!” the flower thing nodded – Lalamon, Saguru assumed. “Nuts Shoot!”

Saguru stared as the tiny little Digimon pelted small projectiles (nuts if the attack called out was anything to go by) at the large sewer blob monster. It didn’t appear to be having any effect. The poor thing was forced to retreat when Sewer Breath spat acid sludge at it.

“That idiot is going to get herself killed,” Tailmon scoffed. “I can’t watch this.”

“Tailmon, wait!” Saguru gasped, but it was too late.

Tailmon ran out and knocked the Lalamon aside to avoid another sludge attack, and punched the sewer creature back while she was at it, landing to a boxing fight-ready stance in front of it. The two creatures went at it with Lalamon firing the occasional shot when it was getting too close to Tailmon. The two were actually making quite a team even though they weren’t doing much damage.

One stray sludge attack went flying towards the human girl, however, so Saguru darted out and knocked her out of the way and behind some cover.

“Standing out in the open like that is kind of stupid with their ranged attacks,” he admonished her as he peeked out behind the crates they’d taken shelter behind.

“Thanks,” the girl grunted, then seemed to realize that he’d implied that she was stupid. “Hey! And just who are you? DATS had this area evacuated.”

“DATS?” Saguru frowned, having only heard of that particular task force division mentioned once or twice in passing. Everything they dealt with was classified, so Saguru didn’t know much about them, but he found it hard to believe that this girl – who looked to be only a year or two older than him at _most_ – was a member of that select unit of police.

“I’m Fujieda Yoshino from DATS,” she scowled, pulling out an official looking badge with her credentials. She was 18 according to her info. “This is an official matter. Who are you and what are you doing here?”

“…Hakuba Saguru,” he said, pulling out his own official badge and credentials that had been given to him as a kind of joke for his seventeenth birthday from Nakamori-keibu and the Kid Task Force after serving with them for over a year. “I’m a high school detective that consults with the Kid Task Force. As for what I’m doing here…”

Saguru trailed off and turned his attention back to Tailmon and her fight with the sewer creature.

“That thing appeared in an alleyway after a Kid heist three nights ago after Tailmon. She said it must have followed her from the Digital World when she accidentally came through to ours. We tracked it down into the sewers, but were unprepared to face it when it attacked.”

“Tailmon? You mean that cat?” Fujieda asked. “And how do you know about the Digital World?”

“Does that look like a normal cat to you?” Saguru asked, glancing at her in amusement. By now Tailmon’s purple stripes and patches of fur were showing through the makeup. “And where do you think I found out about the Digital World? Tailmon told me. She’s been staying at my house while I recovered from a cold these last few days.”

Fujieda scowled at him again.

“You’ve been harboring a Digimon?”

“Says the girl with a Digimon friend of her own,” Saguru shot back, unimpressed. “And I hardly think that right now is the time to be interrogating me. Our Digimon friends don’t appear to be fairing well against that thing.”

Fujieda shut up and returned her attention to the fight as well. Tailmon and Lalamon were doing a great job of tag-teaming the sewer monster, but their attacks still didn’t appear to be having any effect other than making it mad.

“You’re right,” Fujieda nodded, standing up and leaving their shelter behind the crates. “Stay back. DATS will take over from here. Lalamon! Time to evolve!”

She pulled out a rectangular device of some kind and thrust it out in front of her before pulling it back in, holding her other hand up as if to cup something in it. A pink pixilated-looking light suddenly appeared in the palm of her empty hand. She took the light and clapped it down on top of the device she held in her other hand saying, “Digisoul Charge!” and thrust her clasped hands and the device forward, the screen glowing brightly. She spun around dramatically before thrusting the glowing device out towards Lalamon, a beam of light hitting it and engulfing the flower creature in the same light.

“Lalamon shinkaaa… Sunflowmon!”

Saguru started in amazed bewilderment as the tiny bellflower Digimon turned into an even bigger flower creature with a reptilian body, a sunflower for a head, and four large leaves that sprouted out of it’s back like wings. Saguru could see that they _were_ wings when it took to the sky. This Digimon was definitely bigger and hopefully stronger than the tiny Lalamon had been.

“Sunshine Beam!” the newly evolved Sunflowmon cried, its whole face glowing before shooting a strong blast of light at the sewer creature.

It staggered back, howling angrily, but it was obviously injured. The three Digimon went back at it, Tailmon now acting as the distraction so that the stronger Sunflowmon could keep getting in those devastating attacks, but even with the power up, things still seemed to be even.

“Just what is that thing?” Saguru asked.

“It’s a Raremon,” Fujieda answered, crouching back behind the crates to avoid spray from another acid sludge attack. “And it’s been giving DATS the slip for the last three days. This is the fourth time my partner and I’ve fought it.”

“Partner?” Saguru repeated.

“That’s right. Together we make up one of DATS’ field teams.”

“I take it that your job is to track down and contain any Digimon that find their way into our world.”

“…Yeah,” she sighed.

“Don’t feel bad,” Saguru chuckled. “I’m a detective. I wouldn’t be a very good one if I couldn’t put the pieces together after living with a Digimon for three days. I figured that the government had to have some kind of task force assigned to keeping the existence of Digimon a secret.”

“I suppose… Sunflowmon!”

“Fujieda-kun, wait!” Saguru cried out, but was too late to stop the young woman from charging back out from behind the crates when Raremon got in a lucky shot and sent the flower Digimon flying into a warehouse. Tailmon was doing her best to divert its attention, but she was quickly swatted aside as well. Saguru waited to make sure that Raremon was focused on going after Sunflowmon and Fujieda before leaving the shelter of the creates to see if his friend was all right.

“Tailmon!”

“Saguru…” the cat Digimon huffed, struggling to her feet. “You should stay back. This thing could hurt you.”

“Take it easy,” Saguru scolded, picking her up. “You’re the one that’s hurt.”

“I can take it,” Tailmon said, trying to wriggle out of his hold. “Let me go.”

“No! You can’t fight it as you are now. Fighting it head on like that will only result in more of the same!”

“Then what do you suggest?” Tailmon snapped.

Saguru pursed his lips and watched Sunflowmon shoot another of its beam attacks at Raremon from the warehouse it’d crashed into before flying off to put Fujieda somewhere she could remain safe during the fight. Saguru took in their surroundings before he noticed the docking crane holding up one of those metal storage containers. It didn’t appear to have anyone operating it right now.

“Think you can convince Sunflowmon to help you lure that thing over there?” he asked, nodding over to the crane.

“Count on it,” Tailmon smirked, catching on fast.

Saguru nodded, letting her go before hurrying over to the crane. He climbed up into the operations cab and found the keys inside the door. After turning on the machinery he tested the controls of the crane, making sure he knew how to operate it before it became necessary.

Tailmon and Sunflowmon were herding Raremon over to him and he waited nervously for the monster to get into position. It took a few well-aimed punches from Tailmon, but Raremon’s head finally got in range and Saguru dropped the storage container. It hit the thing hard, crushing it to the ground. Saguru sighed in relief, exiting the cab. Hopefully that had knocked the bloody thing out for a while.

Just as he was climbing down from the cab, however, Raremon reared back up, roaring angrily before blasting the crane with its acid sludge.

“Look out!”

Saguru was knocked back and off the crane’s stepladder seconds before the machine was reduced to melted scrap. He landed hard on his back, however, and had to roll away to avoid more sludge and falling debris from the crane. Tailmon fell into a defensive crouch in front of him while he recovered and Sunflowmon started blasting at Raremon to regain its attention.

“Are you alright?” Tailmon asked.

“I’ve been better,” Saguru grunted, regaining his breath and ignoring the sing he felt from his newly scraped knees and palms where the concrete had bit into his skin when he’d rolled. “I just wish that there was something more that I could do to help you.”

When he looked down at one of his palms, Saguru blinked, wondering if that fall had dazed him or something because there was an electrical pixilated kind of light dancing over the scrapes, making his skin feel tingly (or maybe that was just his injuries).

“What… is this?” he whispered.

“Looks like Sunflowmon could use some help,” an elder man’s voice spoke up.

Jumping in shock, Saguru and Tailmon turned around and saw an old man wearing Harry Potter glasses, a straw hat, and fishing gear.

“Who are you?” Saguru asked, wondering how the man knew Fujieda’s partner’s name.

“Use this,” the man said, ignoring the question and throwing Saguru a device that looked like the one that Fujieda had used, only this one was white and icy blue instead of white and pink.

“What is it?” he asked.

“That’s a digivice. Use the Digisoul in your hand to charge it. Once you do that, you can make your Tailmon evolve.”

“Evolve? What do you mean?” Did he mean what Fujieda did to Lalamon to get her to become Sunflowmon?

“Your power will revive Tailmon’s energy and allow her to evolve to the next level,” the old man told him.

Saguru frowned and looked from the digivice to his hand. He could still feel it tingling with the energy of that light. Digisoul, the old man had said. What was that? While he still had a lot of questions, Saguru decided to just go with it and repeated the actions he’d seen Fujieda do with her device. He concentrated on the feeling of that light and flicked his hand out, turning his palm upwards, watching as the pixilated light reappeared and flare out like fire over his hand.

“Digisoul Charge!” he said as he tilted the top part of the digivice towards the palm of his glowing hand and brought them together. The device glowed and he thrust it forward towards Tailmon. The beam of light that came from it hit her and she began to glow.

“Tailmon shinkaaa… D’Arcmon!”

When the light dispersed it revealed a woman standing there wearing a golden facemask that covered the upper half of her face, matching golden armor arm guards, boots, breastplate, and knee and shoulder plates. She had a red turban with a winged egg pin on the front on top of her head over long blond hair. Black belts crisscrossed over her abdomen and held up a loin cloth skirt that covered her front and backside. She had duel swords cross-sheathed across her lower back and she held a wooden staff topped with a winged egg. But what really caught Saguru’s attention was the four wings that she had sprouting out of her back. She looked like a fearsome avenging angel as she stood before him looking battle ready.

“Now this is more like it!” D’Arcmon grinned, whirling her staff experimentally in her grip. “Wait here, Saguru. I’ll take care of this slime.”

D’Arcmon took off, flitting to Sunflowmon’s side, thrusting her staff forward. “Lumière Brillante (Brilliant Light)!”

A bright light shone from the egg atop her staff and blinded the Raremon, allowing the two female Digimon to pull back. D’Arcmon whirled her staff again and this time it disappeared, freeing her hands and allowing her to draw her two swords. Together the two attacked. Sunflowmon used another Sunshine Beam to pin Raremon to the side of a warehouse.

“La Pucelle (The Maiden)!” D'Arcmon shouted, slashing her swords in a complicated series of maneuvers that slashed Raremon apart, shattering it into pieces that reformed as an egg.

“This was the worst,” Fujieda groaned as she came out from where she’d taken cover and collected the egg. “But at least we defeated him this time.”

“Yes,” Sunflowmon nodded before turning to D'Arcmon and Saguru. “Thank you for your help.”

“You’re welcome,” D’Arcmon nodded before both Digimon began to glow and shrank back down to Lalamon and Tailmon. Tailmon ran back and jumped up onto Saguru’s shoulder. “We make a pretty good team.”

“So we do,” Saguru smiled at her before looking down at the digivice the old man – who was nowhere to be seen now – had given him.

“Where did you get that digivice?” Fujieda demanded.

“An elderly man gave it to me,” Saguru frowned. “He just told me what to do and disappeared while my attention was on D’Arcmon.”

Fujieda frowned, arms crossed over her chest in indecision before her Bluetooth earpiece beeped.

“This is Yoshino,” she said after depressing a button. “What?! …Yes, he has a digivice… An old man gave it to him, he said. …All right, I’ll bring him in.” She turned to address Saguru. “The Captain would like to speak with you two. I’d appreciate it if you came with me.”

Saguru nodded after a moment’s consideration. He had an idea of what this girl’s superior wanted with him – he knew about Digimon after all and had just helped one evolve – so he went with her willingly enough. He followed her to her squad car and she drove them to a modern looking building near the docks and into an underground parking garage.

Inside she led them down a gleaming corridor to an elevator that took them up to what Saguru assumed was the top floor. Everything in this base was metallic and practically screamed Sci-fi Futuristic Base. The space they entered didn’t do anything to deter that notion. Complex and high tech looking computer banks lined the walls and filled a large portion of the command center. A large circular desk occupied the middle of the large room where a man wearing sunglasses indoors stood in a decorated navy blue uniform that indicated that he was an officer of high rank. There was also a Digimon curled around the back of his neck. It reminded Saguru of a ferret or something of that nature. It was white with a gold collar around its neck and golden metallic plates that seemed to be a part of its fur.

“Welcome, Hakuba Saguru, consultant detective attached to the Kid Task Force and son of Division Two’s Superintendent, Hakuba Akira. I am Captain Satsuma Rentarou, Agent Fujieda Yoshino’s superior. I oversee all DATS operations from this base.”

“Sir,” Saguru nodded, shaking the Captain’s hand.

“I have to say, it’s an honor to meet you in person,” Captain Satsuma smiled. “I’d been hoping to recruit you into DATS when you first came to Japan, but your father placed you with the Kid Task Force before I had the chance.”

“Wait… this is a recruitment?” Fujieda asked.

Saguru tried to reign in his own surprise with his reply.

“I’m afraid that was at my own request. I’d originally come to Japan to test my skill as a detective against the Kaitou Kid.”

“And you’re one of few that have nearly succeeded. I think you hold the record for coming the closest most often,” the Captain said.

Saguru shrugged.

“Your record in academics is equally impressive,” the Captain continued, looking at one of the screens in front of him. “You received a Bachelors in Criminology from Cambridge three years ago at the age of fourteen, and your mother’s family had connections within the British government that allowed you to work with Scotland Yard. You were there again just a few months ago to receive your Bachelors in Forensic Science after taking a year and a half of online classes to finish the degree. You’re currently working on your Masters in both majors, I presume.”

“…Correct,” Saguru nodded.

“And yet you are attending high school in Ekoda as an ordinary high school student when you’re not working your own cases or consulting with the Task Force. May I ask why?”

“To blend in better,” Hakuba sighed. “It’s not like I’ll be hired by the police force here and even if I was hired, few would take me seriously because of my age. Even the Task Force that I’ve been working with for almost two years now still talk down to me from time to time even though I’ve already proven myself. That was a problem I had back with Scotland Yard. It’s why I’m a _high school_ detective.”

“Pity. Would you care to change that?”

Saguru narrowed his eyes.

“I have a proposition for you,” Captain Satsuma said. “I know that you are enrolled at Ekoda High with half of your last year left to go, and are a detective that already has obligations to the Kid Task Force, but how would you and Tailmon like to consult for DATS as well?”

“…You want me to join DATS?” Saguru asked.

“Yes. You are more than qualified and already have a partner Digimon. My Commander has been keeping an eye on you ever since she came to stay at your house while Yoshino and Lalamon tracked Raremon. Thank you for assisting in the rouge Digimon’s capture by the way.”

“You’re welcome, but why was I being watched?”

“Because of Tailmon,” the Digimon on Captain Satsuma’s shoulder responded. “It is a crime to shelter a rogue Digimon, so you needed to be watched while one of our operatives waited for an opportunity to apprehend her and erase your memory of her. As a rogue Digimon she cannot remain here in the human world and needs to be returned to the Digital World.”

Saguru frowned and Tailmon tensed on his shoulder. He reached up and placed his hand on her flank in an attempt to calm her. He had no intention of letting DATS send her back to the Digital World unless she wanted to go.

“Which is why I’m offering you a position with us,” Captain Satsuma cut in, seeing their tension. “As members of DATS, Tailmon will be allowed to remain here with you in our world. I’m afraid that there are no exceptions.”

“…Very well,” Saguru nodded after sharing a glance with Tailmon. She didn’t look like she wanted to go, and hadn’t mentioned being homesick once during the three days they had been together. “And what is it you want me to do?”

“Tracking and assisting in the containment of rouge Digimon, like Raremon. But for now, continue as you have been,” Satsuma smiled. “Rogue Digimon are rare, so for two Digimon to emerge at the same time like Tailmon and Raremon did, it caught us by surprise and in the confusion left Raremon to his own devices for too long. Before you leave we’ll issue you a Bluetooth work phone, synched to your digivice. It’s what we’ll call you on when we need your assistance to contain rouge Digimon. As I said, I just want you to consult for now, but you’re free to come and go here at headquarters whether you’re on assignment or not. If you’d like, Yoshino can show you around. I’d give you a tour myself, but I have a dockyard to arrange clean up for. I’m sure you have a lot of questions, but I have faith that Yoshino can answer them.”

Saguru nodded and allowed the man to get back to work. Fujieda huffed before waving him back over to the elevator.

“Come on, I’ll show you around.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's chapter 3. It's a little longer than the previous chapters, but I don't think that that's a bad thing. So now Hakuba is consulting for DATS. We'll find out more about what he'll be doing and who he'll be working with next chapter, but at least we got to meet Yoshino and Satsuma! Don't worry, Tohma will be next. :) We'll also get back to Detective Conan and Magic Kaito characters next chapter as well. 
> 
> I hope you guys don't mind me messing around with Tailmon's evolution line. I know that it's Salamon and not Tailmon that has the option to digivolve into D'Arcmon instead of Tailmon, but I made Tailmon a Rookie in this fic in place of Salamon, so... Yeah. Angewomon and Ophanimon are still her Ultimate and Mega levels though, so don't worry about a completely changed evolution line. :) Hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	4. Codes and DNA

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saguru and Tailmon get their tour of DATS HQ, Saguru investigates the properties of his new digivice, and Tailmon does some exploring of her own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, it's been a while hasn't it? Sorry for the long wait you guys. My last semester in college has been a busy one, but it's almost over. I hope you enjoy reading this new chapter!

Saguru and Tailmon followed Fujieda around DATS headquarters. She showed them the common areas that all DATS agents had access to like the locker rooms, gym, break lounges, the cafeteria, the conference rooms, and – upon necessity and request – they ended the tour with a stop at one of the main labs. Saguru whistled, impressed, as he eyed the various machines and computer banks.

“Uh-oh,” Tailmon sighed, recognizing the look in his eye. “We may be here a while.”

Saguru shot an unamused look at her, but went back to observing the equipment, asking Fujieda what their purpose was. He was particularly interested in the machine that zapped Raremon’s Digiegg back to the Digital World and questioned the technicians on the mechanics and engineering behind it. Tailmon took the opportunity to take a quick catnap off in an out of the way corner while Saguru continued to familiarize himself with the lab.

Fujieda watched Saguru experiment with some of the controls on the monitors that detected breeches in the barrier between their world and the Digital World. She smiled as she imagined the ghost image of a different and slightly younger blond boy working at those controls with him.

“You know,” she said. “I’m sure if you wanted, Captain Satsuma would give you clearance to work in here. You clearly enjoy this sort of thing.”

“My grandfather owns and runs Hakuba Labs,” Saguru told her, smiling sheepishly as he finally stepped back from the equipment and allowed the technicians to resume their work undisturbed. “My father’s position as a Superintendant in the Japanese Metropolitan Police Force means that he puts in a lot of time at the office. As a result, when I first moved to Japan two years ago I ended up spending most of my free time with my grandfather and in his labs. He gave me a space and resources to do my own forensic work for my cases and before I knew it, I was attending online classes for a Forensic Science Major and was working as an intern to gain experience in the labs. That way I could do the forensic work myself rather than wait for one of the lab techs to get the results for me.”

Fujieda nodded. “Since you’re qualified I’ll talk to the Captain and see if he can add special permission lab access to the areas your DATS ID will allow you to enter. You should get your official badge and credentials in a week. If you’ll come with me now we’ll go ahead and get you your work-issued Bluetooth earphone and a temporary ID work card until your official documents are made.”

Saguru nodded, waking Tailmon so that they could leave.

Fujieda took them to an office room where staff and agents were issued their standard work equipment and paper work. After filling out a few work forms, Saguru handed his new digivice over to a technician. The technician pressed some buttons on the device as she pulled out a blue and white Bluetooth headset that clipped on over the left ear. Saguru watched with interest as she synced the two devices and started to explain to him what buttons did what on the headset and all of the basic functions on the digivice. Tailmon had not liked it one bit when the technician scanned her with the digivice and proceeded to demonstrate how she could be stored inside it. Out of respect for Tailmon, after she was released from the digivice and resumed her usual spot on Saguru’s shoulder, he declined trying to perform the procedure himself saying that he understood how the process worked. Tailmon sagged slightly in relief and curled her tail around his shoulders in a small gesture of thanks. She chose to remain on his shoulder for the remainder of their visit after that, huddled close to and slightly behind his neck, away and as far out of sight from the technician.

Afterwards, Fujieda took them back to her car and drove them home.

“Wow,” Fujieda said, staring wide-eyed as they pulled up in front of the western styled mansion. “Nice place.”

“It’s alright,” Saguru sighed, wincing internally. Hers was a common reaction. “It might as well be a museum, though, for all of the empty and unused rooms there are inside.”

“Right,” she said, snapping out of her ogling. “Well! It’s been nice meeting and getting to know you. Thanks for your help today. I look forward to working with you in the future.”

“Likewise, Fujieda-san,” Saguru smiled, holding out a hand for her to shake.

“Yoshino,” the redhead said firmly, shaking his hand. “Call me Yoshino.”

“Yoshino-san, then,” Saguru said with a nod.

“May I call you Saguru-kun?” she asked.

Saguru blinked in surprise. Other than members of his family and Baaya, most people in Japan insisted on calling him by his family name and always stuck to that address no matter how long they had known him because of who his father was and the respect they held for the position he commanded. Not even Aoko had asked him if she could call him by his first name yet even though she’d insisted that he address her by hers after they became friends. Tailmon had been the only exception, but she was a being from another world that couldn’t be expected to know this world’s social customs and, therefore, didn’t count.

“You can say no if it’ll make you uncomfortable. I promise I won’t be offended,” Yoshino was quick to say, misinterpreting his reaction. “I realize that we just met and that most people wait until they know one another better before addressing each other by their first names, but at DATS, we’re kind of a close knit group, ya know? What we do is confidential and we can’t normally tell anybody outside of DATS about Digimon and what we do, so…”

“No, it’s fine,” Saguru reassured. “It’s just that no one ever asks. I don’t mind if you address me as Saguru, Yoshino-san.”

She smiled widely at him. “Great! I’ll be in touch soon. Have a good night, Saguru-kun. Tailmon.”

“ _Good night!_ ” Lalamon’s voice chirped from within Yoshino’s digivice.

“Same to you,” Saguru and Tailmon said as they got out of the car.

Yoshino waved before pulling away.

Once inside, Saguru had to sneak Tailmon past Baaya because she refused to go into the digivice. Once they were safely upstairs in Saguru’s bedroom, Tailmon jumped up onto the bed, faced him, and crossed her paws in front of her.

“I am _not_ going into that thing unless it is absolutely necessary. And by absolutely necessary, I mean in last resort no-where else to hide scenarios,” she growled. “We clear?”

“Is it that bad in there?” Saguru asked.

Tailmon fidgeted slightly. “Well… no. It’s not… terrible. Bit cramped, but not…” She shrugged.

“It just scared you when that technician simply zapped you inside the digivice without warning,” Saguru deduced.

“I wasn’t scared,” Tailmon retorted. Saguru raised an eyebrow. “…But maybe it did startle me a bit,” she finished reluctantly.

Saguru crouched down so that he was at her eyelevel. “I can’t promise that I won’t suddenly upload you into the digivice, but I swear to you, on my honor, that I won’t do so without good reason. I will never force you into the digivice, but in the event that I might have to upload you inside the digivice for your own safety or if you’re in danger of being detected by ordinary citizens, I will do my best to ask your permission or at least warn you before doing so. Is that satisfactory?”

Tailmon narrowed her eyes, but nodded. “I can live with that.”

Saguru nodded back with a smile before rising to his feet and headed over to his desk, plopping down into the leather office chair there. He pulled out his new digivice and turned it over in his hands, sometimes pressing a few buttons to get a better feel for how the device worked and what it could do. During his examination he came across a small chip that clicked open to reveal a port opening. Curious, Saguru booted up his desktop computer and opened the bottom left drawer of his desk.

“What are you doing?” Tailmon asked, watching him curiously.

“I want to see if I can hook this up to my computer,” Saguru said, digging through the desk drawer. It was full of an assortment of cords and cables. He selected one and with a satisfied smirk, connected one end to the digivice and plugged the other end of the cords into a USB port on his computer. It took a few minutes, but after a little searching and finagling he was able to access the digivice’s files on his computer.

“Whoa,” Saguru said, eyes wide as he scanned through all the coded data he was seeing.

“Looks like a bunch of numbers,” Tailmon said.

“It’s a binary code,” Saguru mused. “A whole lot of it.”

“What does it all mean?” Tailmon asked.

“Give me a moment,” Saguru muttered, tapping away at the keyboard.

Tailmon watched the human, seeing his eyes darting back and forth as they quickly read what was on the screen and his fingers flew rapidly across the keys. She saw the series of numbers flashing as they scrolled by on the screen. After fifteen minutes, Saguru let out a triumphant “yes!” as the numbers vanished and actual text began to pop up in various windows.

“What does is it all say?” Tailmon asked.

“A lot of it is documented in a series of glyphs I’m unfamiliar with, but some of it is in Japanese and English. This, for example,” he said, clicking on a window of Japanese text, “is the system’s log. It states when this digivice was activated and went online for the first time, when it was tested, when updates to the software were made, and here, near the end of the log, is a record file that was downloaded when you became D’Arcmon for the first time.” Saguru’s fingers were a blur as he typed in a series of commands and opened the record he’d indicated. “Fascinating.”

“What?” Tailmon asked, not able to decipher the text aside from a few small words. There was more code, some in binary, and some in a seemingly random sequence of Romanized letters.

“This is more than just a record of when the device is active,” Saguru said, scrolling through a new window that had popped up. “There is another code here. Three, actually… wait a minute… I know what this one is…” He pulled up the Romanized letter code and with a few more taps another window popped up with a series of English text and a series of pictures. “No way… this is a human DNA code sequence… and a record of a blood type and body type, all identical to my own… This must be my entire genetic code! If that’s the case…” More typing. Another two windows popped up, these ones with pictures of Tailmon and D’Arcmon. “Oh, wow! Tailmon, these are yours. …It’s all binary – digital code – and yet there seems to be a biological element to this second code… hold on.”

Saguru frowned, pulling up the windows of both his and D’Arcmon’s data side-by-side, highlighting sections of their codes. After some more rapid typing, the highlighted sections in the window with D’Arcmon’s data condensed and reappeared as Romanized letters instead of a series of 0s and 1s. Now the binary code was broken up with small sections of the Romanized letter sequencing that made up small parts of Saguru’s DNA code.

“Look at that,” he said.

“They match… So?” Tailmon asked.

“My DNA,” Saguru said. “There are small translated sections of my genetic code imbedded here within your binary code after you evolved into D’Arcmon.”

“What does that mean?” Tailmon asked.

“…I’m not sure,” Saguru mused, “but now, more than ever, do I want to work in DATS’ labs. If this information is any indication and my deductions are correct, the digivice acts as a kind of conductor that somehow absorbs, reads, and then translates parts of my biological DNA into data – probably through that light energy that Yoshino and that old man from the docks referred to as my Digisoul – and it changes the properties that make up your own binary code enough that you evolve into D’Arcmon.”

“As interesting as that all sounds, lets be clear here. I am _not_ going to be a guinea pig in any experiments that you may be formulating in that smarty-pants brain of yours,” Tailmon said firmly.

“You won’t need to be a guinea pig,” Saguru reassured her. “I can create simulators on the computer. All I’d need for what I have in mind is your code, but your entire code is already registered here in the digivice. And so is mine it seems.”

“How did you know those parts of my code were binary versions of segments of your genetic code?” Tailmon asked, frowning as she looked at the seemingly random sequence of letters and numbers.

“Eidetic memory,” Saguru mused. “Also known as photographic memory. I remember everything I’ve ever studied. While working on my Forensic Science degree, I had the opportunity to study my own DNA, including the sequence code, both in letters and strung out in binary. That’s why I recognized it as such when I saw it again here.”

“Must be nice having such a good memory and a big brain,” Tailmon commented, impressed.

“…Not always,” Saguru frowned. “There are a lot of things I wish I didn’t remember. But it is my eidetic memory that allows me to be so effective analyzing codes, cold cases and thefts. I can look at two seemingly identical pictures and spot the differences as if they were glaringly obvious. I can read through large piles of case files and find the tiny little inconsistencies in testimonies and evidence. I notice if there is a slight and suddenly change or deviation in a pattern. And on Kid heists it is particularly useful being able to spot the small signs of disturbance that highlight his presence or the placement of one of his traps. Being able to avoid said traps and warn others about them in time, however, is another matter altogether. The body cannot always keep up with the mind when it’s required to act in time to avoid sudden unpleasant surprises. And then there are the times my mind is taking in and processing so much that I am too focused on the little details that I miss the bigger picture until I take that step back to gain perspective. Sometimes being so smart is more of a curse than it is a blessing. Yes, it allows me to do my work, but more often than not I get so caught up in a case that I forget things like eating and sleeping. I forget the outside world around me and my social life suffers for it. That’s why I don’t have too many friends. I can become obsessive with my work and that obsession gets in the way of my life. My grandfather is of a similar nature, so we get along and understand one another quite well. Neither of my parents are like that, however, and it frustrates them whenever I fall down the proverbial rabbit hole.”

“I see…” Tailmon said slowly, now understanding why Saguru had stashes of candy and granola bars in his desk, bedside table, school bag, and the coat he’d worn on their outing that day. She made a mental note to keep an eye out for that sort of obsessive behavior. In the few days she’d gotten to know Saguru, she’d come to like and respect him. He was her only friend in this world and she vowed to watch out for him, as he had for her. She allowed Saguru to examine and study the data and properties of the digivice, but after a few hours reminded him that he was well enough to go to school the next day and that he’d better get some sleep.

 ~*~*~*~*~*~

Over the next few days, Saguru got up and went to school while Tailmon stayed behind. He always left her a stash of food before he left and she kept herself preoccupied learning the inner workings of the house. She was careful to avoid being spotted by Baaya and Saguru’s father during the rare occasions that the man was home for something. When she wasn’t prowling about the house, she was in Saguru’s room continuing her studies of the Japanese and English languages so that she wouldn’t have to constantly ask Saguru what something said or meant. These language lessons also allowed her to use Saguru’s laptop more effectively so that she could learn more about the human world on her own time. But after four days of the same routine she was getting bored. She was now competent – if not fluent – in her ability to read, type, and understand both languages, and there were only so many times she could stand to explore the house each day.

“You want to do what?” Saguru asked in surprise Friday morning, as he was getting ready for school.

“Go to school with you,” Tailmon repeated her request. “I’ll go mad if I spend another long boring day in this place.”

“I suppose, but I don’t have the time this morning to mix and apply the makeup solution that hides the irregular aspects of your appearance like I did Sunday,” Saguru frowned.

“…I could go in the digivice,” Tailmon said reluctantly.

Saguru looked at her with even more surprise.

“You’d have to stay inside it most of the time,” Saguru pointed out.

“I’ll have to get used to being stuck inside that thing at some point,” Tailmon pointed out bitterly. “Besides, it’s almost been a full week since we were at DATS. You said so yourself that you expected Yoshino to get in contact with you soon. What if it’s today she contacts you? Wouldn’t it be easier if we were already together when she called? And what if she just shows up at your school? Are you really going to want to waste time coming all the way back here to pick me up?”

“…You really are going stir crazy here, aren’t you?” Saguru mused. “But how is the digivice going to be any better?”

“It won’t be,” Tailmon muttered, “but at least I’ll be able to keep tabs on you and what’s going on. Besides, you’ve complained enough about your friend, Kuroba, acting up in the mornings that I’m curious to see – or at least hear – it for myself. If it gets to be too much inside the stupid thing, you can set me loose during a break or something and I’ll manage to move about undetected somehow. Maybe I’ll find a nice tree to climb.”

Saguru chuckled at her bitter and sarcastic final remarks. “Alright.” He pulled out his digivice and began tapping a couple buttons. “Ready?”

She nodded.

Saguru hit one more button, pointed the screen at her and Tailmon’s form flickered like static for a moment before vanishing. He looked down at his digivice’s screen and saw her looking back at him.

“ _So far so good_ ,” the cat Digimon sighed. “ _It’s not as bad in here as I remember it being_.”

“To be fair, you weren’t expecting the transfer last time,” Saguru told her gently before pocketing the device and headed down stairs.

After picking up his lunch from Baaya (and sneaking a little extra away for Tailmon), Saguru proceeded on his way to school, poking the top half of his digivice out of his pocket to that Tailmon could see the places he passed by – something for which she greatly appreciated, especially when he reached his school. She watched with interest as boys and girls swarmed around the place all wearing the same clothes – Saguru had called them uniforms. Once they stopped inside one of the rooms in the massive building, Saguru transferred his digivice to a small outside pocket on his backpack, leaving the zipper ajar so that Tailmon could continue watching what was going on around him.

Tailmon had to focus really hard on not laughing when she finally saw what Saguru had referred to as “the morning mop chase” performed by Kuroba and Aoko. She hadn’t known that humans could move like that. Kuroba was as light on his feet and in his movements as she was, flitting from desk to desk and all around the room while Aoko screamed after him with a long stick with a bunch of floppy string things on it’s end. When Tailmon had caught sight of the stick-string-mop-thing, she’d been tempted to leave the digivice and chase after the stringy ends, but the moment the mop-thing had been turned on Kaito and the chase ensued, that urge was squashed as she saw what a lethal weapon it was in the human girl’s hands. The chase was amusing though, and she would be disappointed if it moved out of her view for longer than half a minute. She admired their endurance.

Then an adult male human, who could only be what Saguru had called a “teacher,” came in and stopped the chase. Then the teacher droned on and on about something Tailmon didn’t understand or care about and she prepared herself for a boring day. It wasn’t completely boring, however. Saguru’s friend, Kuroba, had performed a series of pranks and tricks that lightened the mood and alleviated her of her boredom throughout the day during the series of boring classes that Saguru had to attend. She was relieved, though, when Saguru released her from the digivice during his lunch break.

“Tailmon, realize!”

When Tailmon felt herself materialize again, she stretched and purred contentedly. Being inside the digivice might not have been as bad as she’d originally thought, but she definitely liked being outside the damned contraption more.

“Are you alright?” Saguru asked.

“I’m fine,” she shrugged, looking around at their new surroundings. They were on the school’s grounds, behind a corner of the building near a tree.

“Here.”

She looked up and saw that he was holding out a bundle towards her. She didn’t need to open it to know that there was food inside. She accepted it gratefully and took it with her as she jumped up into the tree’s lower branches.

“You can stay out here for the rest of the time I’m in class if you’d like,” Saguru informed her, pointing to the tree. You can see inside my classroom on the third floor from the upper branches and the field where we’ll be having gym class next block period. We’re running track.”

Tailmon nodded musingly as she took a bit out of the sandwich inside the food bundle. It was a better alternative than being trapped inside the digivice for the rest of the day. Besides, she wanted to do some exploring of her own and practice her stealth. She didn’t want to get lazy after all. It was one thing to be able to avoid an old woman in a large empty mansion, but an entire building full of students, however…

Saguru sighed and she returned her attention to him, looking inquisitive.

“Just don’t get caught while you look around, ok? I’ll meet you back here under the tree after the final bell rings,” he said. “I’d better get back inside or Aoko-kun and Kuroba-kun will come looking for me.”

She nodded but cocked her head to the side, wondering how he’d known that she wasn’t going to stay in the tree.

Saguru chuckled. “Cats are known for doing what they please in this world. I can’t and won’t stop you from doing what you wish, but I do ask that you be careful and meet back up with me at the appointed time. We don’t want DATS to think that you are going to be a liability and cause trouble.”

Tailmon shuddered at the implication of his words. She didn’t want to be sent back to the Digital World. She rather liked it here. She liked being with Saguru.

“I promise,” she said, making a mental note to herself to make today’s exploration a light surveillance trip. No risk taking until she knew the inner workings of this school better.

Saguru nodded an acknowledgement before heading back inside the school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a lot of fun writing in Tailmon's POV. It's an interesting perspective to write in so I hope I'm doing it well. :P
> 
> No Tohma this chapter, but he was mentioned (kinda) in that brief moment from Yoshino and we did return a bit to Kaito and Aoko. I really need to write them into a scene that takes place from Hakuba's POV soon though. It's so limiting to their characters when it's in Tailmon's. Anyway, this was a bit of an exposition chapter, and nothing exciting really happened, but that won't be the case next chapter, I promise. Saguru and Tailmon are going to go on their first assignment for DATS! So look forward to it. I don't know when I'll update again, but it'll definitely happen for sure on August 1st for the Digimon Anniversary!


	5. First Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saguru takes on his first official case for DATS.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo sorry that it's been a little over 2 YEARS since this got an update. Hope you enjoy this chapter. It didn't quite turn out how I'd intended, but I like the way it turned out and I hope you do too. :) Enjoy!

Saguru wouldn’t admit it, but he was worried. He knew that Tailmon was more than capable of taking care of herself, and yet he knew his worry wouldn’t end until school got out and she was back in the digivice. The rest of the day seemed to stretch out longer than normal. Not even Kuroba’s pranks helped pass the time like they usually did.

“Hakuba-kun?” Aoko whispered.

He turned his head minutely in her direction, looking at her out of the corner of his eye and raised an eyebrow.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

Saguru could feel Kuroba’s gaze on the back of his neck now too.

“I’m fine,” he said softly.

“You’ve seemed distracted ever since lunch,” she insisted. “Did something happen?”

“Not really,” Saguru said. “I just have to meet someone after school.”

“Gotta ‘nother case?” Kuroba asked, voice pitched lowly so no one but the three of them could hear.

“Something like that,” Saguru lied.

Aoko backed off from the conversation as the teacher began walking around to check their work, but Saguru could still feel Kuroba’s gaze.

When their final class let out, Saguru managed to slip out before Kuroba and Aoko, heading down to his shoe locker to put on his street shoes and walked briskly over to the tree he’d left Tailmon in earlier. As promised, she was there. Saguru pulled out his digivice and didn’t even get the question out before she nodded, more than likely sensing his urgency. He quickly uploaded her and headed back to the main gate to leave the school with everyone else. He’d just passed through the main gates when Aoko and Kuroba caught up with him.

“What’s your hurry?” Kuroba asked.

“I told you, I have to meet someone,” Saguru sighed.

The other teenage boy raised his eyebrows skeptically.

“Kaito,” Aoko said warningly, but before any of them could say anything more, a car pulled up beside the sidewalk they were on.

“Saguru-kun!” Fujieda Yoshino called out, waving from behind the wheel. She was in her DATS uniform, and Saguru noted that her car was a police patrol car.

“Yoshino-san,” Saguru said, bowing his head in greeting. “Good to see you again.”

“Same. Is now a good time?” she asked. “I realize that you’ve just gotten out of school, but I could use your help with a situation similar to the one you helped me with last weekend.”

“Now’s fine. How long ago did it start?” Saguru asked, dropping the pleasantries and went into what Kuroba and Aoko called his “detective mode.” He wondered what sort of Digimon had shown up this time.

“About ten minutes ago,” Yoshino said, grimly. “I happened to be in the area when I got the call and realized I wasn’t far from your school. Captain Satsuma suggested I bring you along. Do we need to stop by your house for anything?”

“No,” Saguru said, rounding the car to the passenger side, but he spared a moment to look up at his friends. “I apologize, Aoko-kun, Kuroba-kun, but I must go. I’ll see you both tomorrow for class.”

With that, he got in the car and Yoshino drove them away, turning her siren on when they hit the main road.

“Is Tailmon with you?” Yoshino asked.

“Yes,” he said, hearing Tailmon answer an affirmative from the digivice herself.

“Good,” Yoshino sighed. “Another Digimon signal was detected in Ueno Park. DATS has already asked local police to clear and seal off the area. If you look inside the glove compartment, you’ll find your new credentials. I was going to deliver them in person to your house this afternoon, but the call came in.”

“That’s alright,” Saguru said, pulling out the documents.

He was surprised to see that he got an official badge as well. The badge the Kid Task Force had issued him was more of an honorary thing because he was only a minor and a consultant that wasn’t being paid for his work with the Task Force. He was more like a very privileged volunteer. His fancy slip of paper inside a billfold didn’t hold any real standing outside of the Task Force itself. It wasn’t like the official ID and shield that proclaimed that he was an officer of DATS. His credentials did say he was a consultant, but according to his fast read of the paperwork, he was a consultant with a fairly high clearance level. He wasn’t even sure that Inspector Nakamori had this high of a clearance level. Hell, he didn’t think his father had the clearance for a few of the things his new status as a part-time DATS officer allowed him access to.

“Something wrong?” Yoshino asked.

“Just perplexed, I suppose.” Saguru grimaced. “I don’t think that half the higher ups my father works with have clearance this high.”

“Well, DATS is a high clearance department,” Yoshino said. “Most believe we’re a branch of the counter terrorism department, and we sort of are.”

“I understand that,” Saguru said, “I’m just unsure whether I should be given that sort of clearance since I’m only a consultant.”

“You may only be a consultant now,” Yoshino said, smiling, “but I believe Captain Satsuma hopes that after a while, you’ll sign on to be a full time agent, like I am. And as for the high clearance level, it’s required for all field agents. You’ll need it to get permission to enter private property Digimon materialize inside of and to get past police cordons, like the one we’re heading towards right now.”

Saguru nodded, putting his new badge away.

“You also get a uniform,” Yoshino said. “Yours is in the back. You can changed when we get there.”

“What’s our ETA?” he asked.

“Five minutes.”

5.25 minutes later, Yoshino pulled up just outside of Ueno Park. Saguru took the package that held his new DATS uniform and quickly changed inside a thankfully nearby park bathroom. It was slightly different from Yoshino's. His was a short sleeved white bodysuit with white and navy blue boots, and a navy blue and white jacket whose selves only went down to his elbows. The bodysuit was practically skin tight, but he could feel the protective padding as he slipped it on. There was also a gray belt that had a pouch for his digivice. There was some other equipment on his belt, but he decided to ask Yoshino about it later.

“Now you look official,” Yoshino said, smiling as he came out and put his school uniform in the back seat.

Saguru noted that she had her bluetooth headset on, so he reached into his school bag and took his out as well.

“Hakuba Saguru is now online,” Yoshino reported after he hooked it onto his ear and clicked it on. “Status on the rogue Digimon?”

“ _There has been little to no movement from the signal_ ,” a woman’s voice informed them. “ _You are clear to proceed_.”

“Understood. Thanks, Miki,” Yoshino said before turning to Saguru. “Ready?”

Saguru nodded.

Together they headed towards the police cordon, passing through the crowd that had gathered. Saguru suddenly found himself very nervous, though he was grateful that he recognized none of the officers maintaining the cordon. He hadn’t had an opportunity to speak to his father about his new consulting job with DATS yet. He’d have to now. Just because he didn’t recognize anyone here, didn’t mean that there wasn’t a chance that one of the officers might recognize him.

“Hold it,” an officer said as he and Yoshino reached the cordon.

“Fujieda and Hakuba from DATS,” Yoshino said authoritatively, flashing her badge. Saguru did the same, trying not to wince when the officer blinked in surprise and looked Saguru over. There was no way this officer didn’t recognize him or his family name. Saguru wasn’t looking forward to seeing his father tonight.

“How’s the evacuation?” Yoshino asked, regaining the officer’s attention.

“Everyone, including staff members from the zoo, have been evacuated,” the officer reported.

“Good,” Yoshino said, nodding. “We’ll take over from here.”

Saguru followed Yoshino past the cordon and headed further into the park.

“My father is going to be mad if he finds out about this,” Saguru sighed. “I haven’t had a chance to talk to him about DATS.”

“I’m sorry,” Yoshino said, looking concerned. “I didn’t think about that. Your dad is the Superintendent of Ekoda District isn’t he?”

“Yes, meaning he’s very busy and we’re rarely home at the same time. Tonight’s dinner is actually the first time I’ll get to seen him since Tailmon appeared and I got sick. But that’s not your fault. I probably should have made an appointment with his secretary to see him after I left DATS last weekend.”

“You have to make an appointment just to see your dad?” Yoshino asked, incredulous.

“Like I said, he’s a busy man,” Saguru sighed. “Making an appointment is the quickest way to see him short of an emergency situation.”

“Doesn’t he come home to sleep?” Yoshino asked.

“Not really,” Saguru said. “Only on the weekends. Most nights he stays in a flat he rents in a building only a few blocks from the station. He goes there when he doesn’t want to be disturbed after a long day at the office.” Among other things. Ever since his parents divorce, Saguru knew that his father had seen other women and his mother other men. He did not, however, wish to meet any of his father’s paramours until his father finally picked one to marry and, therefore, became his stepmother. He had no interest in learning more about either of his parents’ love lives than he already did and would not go near that flat for anything. His father was at least considerate enough to engage in such activities away from home. His mother… There was a reason Saguru had moved to Japan to live with his father. Kaitou Kid was only an excuse.

Yoshino looked like she wanted to say something more, but Lalamon spoke from her digivice and informed them of a Digimon signal 400 meters to their left.

Relieved to get off the topic of his father, Saguru gamely followed Yoshino’s lead to a children’s playground and found what looked like a large white bird wearing a delicate armored helm, chestplate and boots.

“ _Checking up on the data_ ,” the woman’s voice, Miki, said in their headsets. “ _It’s Swanmon, an Adult level, Armored Bird type Digimon_.”

“We’re lucky. She doesn’t appear to be doing any harm,” Yoshino observed.

Saguru chuckled. Swanmon appeared to be trying to figure out swings.

“Allow me,” he said, letting Tailmon out of the digivice, but did not order her to do anything.

Tailmon cocked her head, watching as her human partner approached Swanmon.

“What is he doing?” Yoshino asked.

Saguru appeared relaxed as he approached the Digimon.

“You sit on them,” he said, gaining her attention.

Swanmon startled, flapping away, flustered, but Saguru only smiled kindly at her as he took a seat on a swing.

“See?” he said, then began to push gently back and forth, but never high or hard enough to need to start pumping his legs to gain momentum, content to just sway back and forth.

Tailmon remembered seeing swings in some of the videos and movies Saguru watched with her and found herself wanting to try it herself. So she did.

“Like this?” she asked, taking the swing next to Saguru, but she was smaller than he was and her legs couldn’t reach the ground, so other than the momentum of her taking her seat, she couldn’t swing like Saguru was.

“Try kicking your legs back and forth,” Saguru suggested, pushing off a little more to show Tailmon what to do. He glanced at Swanmon and saw that she was approaching now that she’d identified another Digimon with him and saw that they meant no harm.

Tailmon huffed in frustration when she couldn’t get her swing to move like Saguru’s.

Saguru chuckled and got off his swing. “Want me to give you a push?”

“Yes, please,” Tailmon sighed, then gasped in surprise when Saguru pulled her swing back a bit before letting go. Tailmon laughed with delight when she swung into the air and then back again, feeling Saguru give gentle pushes to keep her momentum from slowing when she began to go forward again.

“Would you like to try?” Saguru offered, looking at Swanmon.

Swanmon nodded timidly, taking the swing he had abandoned and sat in it nervously. Like Tailmon, her legs were too short to reach the ground. She kicked her legs back and forth, but couldn’t swing the way she’d seen the human boy do it. She looked nervously over at the teenager, watching him push Tailmon back and forth.

“Would you like a push too?” Saguru asked, getting another flustered nod.

Yoshino watched in amazement as Saguru pushed his partner and the rogue Digimon on the swings as if they were out for a playful outing. But they had a job to do even though she didn’t want to ruin their fun. The Swanmon was clearly hurting no one and was laughing with Tailmon.

“What… should we do, Captain?” she asked, calling HQ.

“ _Retrieve the squad car, bring it through the cordon and see if Swanmon will allow you and Hakuba to bring her to Headquarters peacefully_ ,” Satsuma’s voice ordered.

“Roger,” Yoshino said, clicking her headset off.

Saguru only looked over his shoulder and nodded at her. Taking that as confirmation that he was fine with her leaving him with the rogue Digimon, Yoshino left to retrieve the car.

Saguru, meanwhile, did his best to keep Swanmon happy and entertained, showing her and Tailmon around a children’s playground. It… was actually a lot of fun. When his Digimon companions grew bored with the swings they tried the slide, the see-saw, and the merry-go-round. By that time, Yoshino had arrived with the squad car. Lalamon was hovering over her shoulder.

“Looks like it’s time to leave,” Saguru mused, getting a sad look from Tailmon and Swanmon.

“I suppose,” Tailmon sighed, leaping up to perch on his shoulder. “It is getting late.”

“You should come with us,” Saguru said, offering a hand to Swanmon. “We can help you.”

Swanmon looked over at Yoshino and the car, shuffling her feathers and feet nervously.

“It’s alright,” Saguru said soothingly. “Tailmon and I’ll be with you the entire time.”

“That’s right,” Tailmon added. “And Yoshino and Lalamon are our friends too.”

Swanmon shifted nervously again, but she nodded, taking Saguru’s hand and allowed herself to be taken and moved into the car. Saguru got in beside her, keeping hold of her wing while Yoshino drove them to DATS HQ. Tailmon and Lalamon chatted happily with Swanmon to help keep her calm during the ride. Once they got there, Swanmon got really scared and cowered behind Saguru as they got out of the car.

“It’s alright,” Saguru murmured reassuringly, keeping a firm grasp on her wing. “I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

“This way,” Yoshino said, gesturing to an area Saguru wasn’t yet familiar with.

The five of them ended up in a nice waiting room area where two three-foot fall armored knight Digimon called PawnChessmon were walking about with a turtle Digimon called Kamemon, who served them some tea. The presence of the other Digimon seemed to calm Swanmon some. Her nerves were quick to return, however, when Captain Satsuma entered the room with Kudamon.

“Hello,” the Captain said, as he took a seat opposite Saguru and Swanmon. “You did good work, Hakuba-kun. You brought Swanmon back to HQ peacefully.”

“It was no trouble at all,” Saguru said smoothly, smiling gently at the scared Digimon. “Swanmon-san is a very gentle and kind soul. She means no one any harm. I like to think we’ve become good friends.”

Swanmon smiled nervously back, nodding.

“Now all that’s left to address is where to proceed from here,” Kudamon said. “Do we send her back to the Digital World where she belongs? Or do we allow her to stay and work at DATS? And if she does stay, who do we assign her to?”

“What do you think?” Saguru asked the bird Digimon. “We can send you home, back to the Digital World.”

Swanmon baulked, shaking her head.

“No?” Saguru said, frowning with concern. “You do not like it there?”

“Scared,” Swanmon said softly, her voice musical like she was only seconds away from singing. “Not wanted there. Won’t fight.”

Saguru, Yoshino, Satsumon and their partners looked around at each other, wondering what that could mean.

“So she stays,” Kudamon finally said, Satsumon nodding. “Who do we assign her to?”

“Why not Saguru-kun?” Yoshino suggested.

“Hakuba-kun already has Tailmon for a partner,” Kudamon pointed out.

“But Saguru-kun was the first to make contact with her. They already have a bond,” Yoshino pointed out. “And Swanmon doesn’t strike me as a combatant Digimon like Tailmon. She’d be more of a team support Digimon, like the PawnChessmon.”

“According to our data,” Captain Satsuma mused, “Swanmon are more like caretakers.”

“Then you believe Hakuba should be allowed another partner?” Kudamon asked, frowning. “It’s unorthodox for a field agent to have more than one partner.”

“Unorthodox, perhaps,” Satsuma said, “but not unprecedented. It is intriguing that our newest agent has been able to bond with more than one Digimon. Tailmon is able to help him with field work, but perhaps Swanmon will be able to help Hakuba-kun with his lab work.”

Swanmon nodded. “I’ll help,” she chirped. “Saguru’s a good friend. Very nice.”

Saguru chuckled and patted her wing.

“Looks like it’s settled,” Yoshino said, grinning. “Swanmon stays with Saguru-kun.”

At that moment, the door to the room opened and a tall raven haired woman in a full navy blue version of Yoshino’s uniform came in.

“Pardon the interruption, Captain, but a Superintendent Hakuba Akira is here to speak with you and Agent Hakuba Saguru.”

Saguru winced, pursing his lips in distress. It looked like his father had heard about what happened at the park. Not surprising even though Ueno was outside of his jurisdiction.

“Very well,” Captain Satsuma sighed as he rose to his feet. Kudamon slid off his shoulder and jumped down onto the chair. “Where is he waiting?”

“In the lobby, sir,” the woman said. “He doesn’t have clearance to be anywhere else.”

“I’ll be back,” Saguru said softly to Swanmon. “Stay with Yoshino-san, Tailmon and Lalamon until I return.”

Swanmon nodded nervously.

Together, Captain Satsuma and Saguru made their way past the labs, the main operations room, and into the lobby of DATS HQ. Saguru repressed another wince when his father came into view. His father normally projected a happy, genial manner when in public, but at the moment, Hakuba Akira’s face might as well have been carved out of stone. It wasn’t quite angry, but it was more severe that Saguru was used to seeing it outside of their home.

“Good evening, Superintendent,” Satsuma began. “What brings you to DATS?”

“My son,” Hakuba Akira said stiffly. “I heard he was involved in one of your operations this afternoon.”

Akira’s expression grew more stern as he took in Saguru’s uniform that clearly proved he was a DATS agent.

“He did,” Captain Satsuma said, his voice level and genial. “He did good work today. We are very happy with the results. He’s only assisted us twice, but already he’s proven himself a very capable young man.”

“So this isn’t that first time,” Akira said, staring his son down.

“Today’s operation was the first official job he’s helped us with,” Captain Satsuma clarified. “The first time, he just happened to be at the right place at the right time and helped one of my agents apprehend a suspect. We were impressed with him and offered an official consultation.”

“Which I accepted,” Saguru added. “I meant to tell you sooner, Father, but I didn’t want to interrupt your busy schedule. I intended to tell you about this tonight over dinner, but Agent Fujieda asked for my assistance in the case that occurred after school got out this afternoon.”

Akira seemed to be at ease a bit, now that he knew that Saguru hadn’t planned to work with DATS behind his back.

“So this is only a consultation?” he asked.

“Yes,” Saguru and Captain Satsuma said.

“Then why the uniform and badge?” Akira asked, eyeing the billfold poking out of a pocket on Saguru’s belt.

“Even our consultants are required to carry a badge of office and dress in uniform when working on our operations,” Captain Satsuma explained. “It is required of all field agents, full time, part-time, or consultant because when they work our cases they represent DATS in public.”

Akira nodded, then returned his attention to Saguru.

“How is this going to affect your work with the Kid Task Force and your private investigations?”

“At the moment, it’s not,” Saguru said. “I’ve made arrangements with DATS to work on an as needed basis. From now only, I’ll only work jobs that I’m in the area for so long as I’m not in the middle of a case or situation that requires my presence. I’ll also be interning in their labs during the weekends on a rotation schedule of sorts that I’ve worked out with DATS personnel and Grandfather.”

“Seems you’ve figured it all out,” Akira sighed.

“Yes, sir.”

“Are you done this evening?”

“I have to finish my debrief, sir,” Saguru admitted.

“And that will take another hour, but afterwards, Superintendent, Agent Fujieda was bring Hakuba-kun home,” Captain Satsuma interjected.

“Very well,” Akira sighed. “I’ll see you at dinner.”

“Yes, sir,” Saguru said, bowing in respect as his father turned and left DATS HQ without another backward glance.

Saguru held back a weary sigh and followed Captain Satsuma back to where the Digimon were waiting.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Funny, thing... Swanmon was not going to be the original Digimon that Saguru faced for his first official DATS mission. It was going to be an Elecmon, but he'd been appearing in a lot of my other Digimon fics lately and Elecmon does show up when Masaru begins his run with DATS, so I thought it'd be repetitive to write one, only to write another when Masaru shows up a few chapters down the road. :P
> 
> So... Saguru technically gets two Digimon now. XD  
> ANYWAY, I hope you guys liked the chapter and hopefully it won't be another couple of years before I post a the next one because this story is far from forgotten.


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